


Stuff of dreams

by raxdean



Category: Danyal Zafar
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, I have no regrets, Original Female Character - Freeform, Shameless Smut, Thank me later, This will be a fandom one day
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 00:06:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12805305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raxdean/pseuds/raxdean
Summary: This is a fanfiction featuring the sexy, amazing Danyal Zafar.Written purely for my own satisfaction.You'll thank me one day.





	1. Chapter 1

I walked into the office, of this hotshot record label that I was interning at. Making every possible effort of being invisible, I reached the common room we had for all the interns. Just as I poured myself a cup of coffee, my boss, Natalie walked in. She wore a beige sweater set that complemented her long brown strands. She looked furious, but I thought it was just how she looked by now. "Radha," she folded her arms, "do you mind explaining to me why was Kate doing your job this morning when I, your lovely boss, had a specific job given to each intern?" she smiled sarcastically. I pushed behind the glasses on my nose and stuttered "Umm well actually, you see.. Kate was, err.. very keen on doing that.. and she asked if I could switch.. and I'm okay with th-this" I pointed to the huge pile of papers that lay beside the Xerox machine. "Every year, the intern that shows the most promise is assigned to work with an artist. You know that. If you're assigned to do the best job there is, I don't understand why you'd let that go," she raised her eyebrows. You wouldn't now, would you? I just started down at my shoes, not knowing how to answer. Natalie sighed, letting her hands loose. "Don't let people intimidate you into giving up what you've worked very hard for". I smiled. "I want that job finished in two hours," she said, walking away. I stared at the pile of papers "the intern that shows the most promise.." I sighed.   
The next hour passed quickly, as I was completely focused on work, nothing else. Probably also because I hadn't seen him in the office, yet. I delivered the xeroxed flyers to the distributor's office. "Hey, you're done early" Jack said as I stamped the stack on the desk in front of him. "Yeah" I smiled. "You really let Kate do this to you," he asked, going through the papers infront of him. "Umm no, it's really not a big deal" I answered. He gave me an awkward expression in return. "Thanks for the flyers" he said as I walked away. "Not a problem" I mumbled. I saw another pile of papers waiting to be photo copied as I entered the room. "Man!" I shouted.   
"Are you alright?" A voice behind me asked in the most soothing tone. Crap. It was him. I turned around to see the very face I had hoped to avoid throughout the day. He had a serious expression on his face, eyebrows tensed. A strand of hair crossed his left eye. He stood there, leaning on the side of the door, one leg flexed and placed in front of the other. "Yeah. Fine, why'd you ask" I said, looking somewhere else. Anywhere else. "It's just that you seem a little worried," he gestured, taking out the hand from his pocket. The bracelets he wore jingled. "What brings you here?" I asked, turning to the pile again. "Well, I was hoping to find you this morning. But there was someone else there," his voice moved nearer. "Yeah, that's Kate," I said. "I know that, I'm asking you why you weren't there," his voice was calmer than ever. "Umm, I actually enjoy this...." I turned around to see Kate standing at the door, where he was. "You can't possibly enjoy this crap work," he smiled. He looked back to see why I had suddenly stopped, mid-sentence. "Danyal, you do know that there's a coffee machine just next to the studio?" she smiled smugly. "I just happen to like this one better," he said and walked away. Kate gasped and glared at me "what do you think you're doing?". "Working" I showed her the papers in my hand. She stamped her foot down and stormed out. Behind Kate, I saw Natalie lower her glasses to see what the commotion was about and gave me a look. I turned away instantly to avoid her next expression. 

By the time it was lunch break, I had reached my tolerance level of photo copying. Seeking a little relief, I went up to the smoking room and saw Danyal leave from the opposite side of the passage just as I entered. He stopped to look at me but I didn't, in the hope to avoid another conversation. I looked outside the huge glass wall in front of me and saw the usual cloudy, rainy London looking back at me. "Natalie" I heard his voice call from a distance. I looked to see what was going on and saw the two of them look at me instantly. I inhaled and let out a puff of smoke. I didn't want to get involved in anything else.

When I got back to my office, I found Kate sitting on my chair. "What are you doing here?" I asked. She turned her chair around and I saw that her eyeliner was smudged. She had been crying. "Kate, what's wrong?" I walked nearer. "Why did you do this to me? You said that you had no problem and then you ratted me out to Natalie like it was my doing" she sniffed. "Kate, I have no idea what you're talking about". "So you had nothing to do with Natalie kicking me out of the studio and asking me to come back here" she shouted. "What? I didn't do anything. I was here all day, working". I shouted. "So who did this?" She fought back tears. "Wait here, I'm going to sort this out," I stormed out. 

I met Natalie mid-way to her office. "Oh Radha, I was just coming to see..". "Why did you ask Kate to leave?" I interrupted her. "Well, that's what I was going to talk to you about," she said. "You can't do this," I said, frantically. "Young lady do not even try to tell me how to do MY job." She was practically shouting by now "if you hadn't defied me in the first place and just done the job that was assigned to you, none of this would be happening". 

"If an artist asks for someone to do the job that was assigned to them to begin with, that's what's going to happen" she continued. I couldn't believe my ears. He just couldn't have done this as a favor to me. It's not because of.... It couldn't. This couldn't mean he's...  
"I'm sorry, Natalie. I overstepped" I lowered my gaze. "He wants you there right away. I can follow my instructions. Can you do the same or so I need to write it down for you?" She snapped. "I'll go right away," I said as she walked away.   
On the way to the studio, I stopped by my office to pick up my stuff and give an answer to Kate, but she wasn't there. 

The time that took me to reach the studio seemed to pass slowly. I knew what had happened, I just didn't know why. 

I stopped outside a glass window. There he was- Danyal Zafar. He focused on his fingers teasing the strings of an electric guitar. Eyebrows tense, he has a sombre expression. He stopped to scribble something on the notepad that lay on the stand. Distracted, he looked at me and broke into a slight smile. I hurried into the office beside the studio and composed myself. 

"Hi" I said, closing the door of the studio behind me "Where's everyone else?". "It's gonna be just you and me for a while. We need to complete this album this week. I need as much creative energy I can get" he said, not looking at me. "We?" I whispered, or at least thought so. "Problem?" He said, now piercing his eyes into mine. Resorting to blinking rapidly, I tried to avert his gaze, in vain. "Uh, no. Not at all,". "Are you always this shy?" His back was now facing me. Damn it. "No." I whispered and he hummed in reply. 

"So, where do you want me?" I asked and only realised what I'd said, after I saw his eyebrows raised and lips curled. "I....I mean, what work...do you..uh..have for me?". "I need a new set of ears. Have a seat" he pulled a high chair in front of him. I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to help but I went with it. Just as I was going to pull the chair a little far from him, he backed up. He played a tune, what seemed like the beginning of the solo. 

The way his face looked when he played was almost always the same, eyes looking toward the fingers but closed. Eyebrows very slightly, such that you could tell they were raised only if observed closely. Lips slightly parted, a strand of hair bothering one edge. 

When he stared at me, waiting for a reaction, I realised that I had been observing him, not his music all this time. "So, what do you think?". I knew from the song you sang, you were my lover for life. BØRNS said, via me. 

It was going to be a painfully long week.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I wrote this in a memo with Italics and Bold and shit but you can't see it. Dialogues written without quotation marks are inner thoughts.

Making my way to the new work place allotted to me, the record studio, the last night played on a loop. I had to stop with whatever it was that I experienced and focus on work. My internship was coming to an end soon, this probably being the last project I could work for. I didn't plan to end as a disaster. Sure, I had a raging crush on a guy who was not only painfully smoking hot but also just happened to be my boss. It was making me increasingly mad by the second. But it wasn't the first time I had a hopeless crush. This was familiar territory whose expert I was. But, being around someone, supressing the urge to grab his face to mindlessly make out wasn't as difficult before. The electrostatic force that I felt whenever we were in that goddamned studio together was very hard to resist. But, I had no plans on acting on my emotions because there was no way in hell they could ever be reciprocated. I had almost convinced myself of this fact but as soon as I entered the studio and found him staring down at the piece of paper, tensed and bothered, all the preparation burned to dust. No body should have the power to make my insides turn. "Was I supposed to come early?" I asked. "No, no. I've been here since four in the morning. I couldn't sleep after what you said to me last night. So I decided to come down here" he said, not looking up. "Cool, I'll bring you coffee". "I bought you a coffee. Hope you don't mind" he pointed at the Starbucks bag on the counter behind me. "There's a muffin there, too. Help yourself" he smiled. "You didn't have to" I turned to the counter. Of course you had to. This was the least you could do for the tumultuous uprising in my guts every time I saw you "Please, after last night, this is the least I could do" his smile grew wider. Fuck you. I recited to him, a poem that I had written after the first time I worked with him- something about the way he sang. I had obviously made up a story about how it was composed ages ago and had nothing to do with him. And he believed it. Something that was written for him ended up inspiring him in some twisted way. I picked up the coffee and walked to him. "This album may actually be finished by the end of this week, thanks to you". "It's actually all because of you" I confessed. "What do you mean?" he asked. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Oh, who cared? "Oh, nothing" I wasn't even trying to hide anymore. What ever had happened? "Radha..." he said, his voice sultry. Stop. "Let's hear what that poem did to you" I tried to change the topic and he complied, surprisingly. Maybe he was more docile than I thought he was. He pushed a couple buttons on the music system and his voice filled the room. The smoke of your voice fills up my head, he sang. The guitar solo began with a strum that he called his signature and he called out jaan in a muffled, mellow voice in the background. He looked at me when it began to tell me this was because of yesterday, I thought. And suddenly, the weird electrostatic force that I couldn't really describe rose from nowhere. Not again. Coupled with the electric guitar, the scene was something straight out of a movie. The song came to an end, but the force between us, did not. "Did you feel it too?" he got up from his chair and wen down on his knee instantly, his hands on my knees now. I wasn't sure what he was exactly refering to- the solo or the tension which had now moved to a critical level with his touch. I parted my lips slightly, not entirely sure what words were destined to come out. His eyebrows rose reflexively and eyes turned innocent. "Wow, you could cut the sexual tension in here with a damn knife" someone chuckled. I got up with a huge push to the chair and tried to look in front, to Danyal for help. But, he was still on his knee, his face and gaze dangerously close to my crotch. When he realised this, he got up and immediately went to the man who was now in the room. "Bhai!" he said "I didn't know you'd get here so quickly" he gave his brother a hug. It was his older brother, Ali. I had always heard of the striking similarity between the two but never witnessed how similar they were. "Who's this?" Ali turned to me. "She's...uh...." Danyal started. "....going" I completed his sentence and walked out. "Nice to meet you" I managed to smile before my grand exit. I avoided eye contact all day with both the brothers and conveniently stayed out of the way, in my chair outside the studio while producers listened to his album and applauded him. It was only till he played the song of the last night when our eyes finally met for a flash of a second only to be separated because of the other five sets of eyes that turned to me the next moment. It was followed by the nod of acceptance. Of something, I didn't know what. To my relief, the rest of the day passed by without the requirement of any conscious effort to not kiss him. I was quite happy about the fact that there wasn't any incident that would have the happenings of the morning come running back to me. Satisfied, I took one last look into the studio, coming back from Kate's office who had finally seen that I wasn't involved in anything that had happened to her the last week. I found the Studio empty and unusually clean for Danyal's liking. Assuming that he had probably left and had no obligations whatsoever to tell me before leaving, I packed up my stuff and headed to the elevator. I saw the elevator door closing from a distance "Hold it!" I yelled. The door slid to a side and revealed Danyal standing there. "Going down?" I asked. "Sure" he smirked. Asshole. I deliberately stood a couple steps behind him because I knew there was no way in hell I could endure his eyes on me all through those 24 floors. On the twenty first, he turned and grinned. It made me physically shrink to have his eyes on me. Elevators tend to be quite the aphrodisiac. On the twentieth, he took some steps back and stood beside me. His presence was making me hot. And very bothered. The force was back again. And this time, I knew it would be impossible to handle it. It was a very tiny and closed space and Danyal wasn't helping the situation at all. The floors passed and I held on to my dear life- please someone stop this elevator and enter. Please. Submerged in his torment, I only realised how close he was to me till his knuckles grazed mine somewhere along the fifteenth floor. The next thing I knew, I could physically feel the force drawing me to his side. Half of my body was lit up with electric shocks and the other half was desperately trying to pull me away from him. I realised that I had held my breath all this time till he exhaled and I did too. "Do you feel it too?" He asked again. And this time I was sure he wasn't talking about the solo. When that question ended, I knew I had involuntarily given in to the force because the space between us was emptying out. The air was collapsing in itself. And the walls of the lift were pushing us together. He was painfully close to my face now. And I had no idea how we ended up there or what was about to happen next. My eyes kept darting from his eyes to his lips. I didn't know where to focus. His nose slightly touched mine and he instantly moved a few millimetres away and turned his face to my ear. "Your nose is awfully cold" he whispered, his voice hot on my ear. It made me tickle, making me turn my head to his side. Our temples rested together for a second. I pushed his shoulder away with mine as I walked to the opposite side. I heard him sigh. God. What was happening. Fortunately, the elevator reached the lobby before he could say anything. "See you tomorrow" I said with my head hung low and walked out. With every step I took, the force faded away. The heat radiating from my body cooled down. I was scared of what I had in store for the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've written an entire poem, describing the elevator scene, with a different ending. Comment/email if you want to read it. Would love to share :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, bold and italics not visible. Dialogues that aren't in quotes are inner thoughts

I stayed lurking in the lobby for a couple minutes before I could gather myself enough to get into the elevator the next day. I tried to distract myself with every possible excuse my head could come up with. Sleep had betrayed me last night, how could it have not? I was up and running only because of the large cup of coffee I had in the morning. The ride upstairs made me very uncomfortable but it was over sooner than I expected it to be. It took me significantly less time to get to the twenty, even with people getting in and out of the lift than it took me last night with him. On the way to the studio, I took as many stops as possible, talking to everyone including Kate and Jack. Even the people who avoided me on a regular basis had a smile to give me and a minute to talk to me about how Danyal's album was going to be. People had to stop talking about him. To me atleast. I stalled for about an hour from the time I was supposed to show up to the studio. I'd rather get a scolding from him or Natalie than actually facing this situation. To my surprise, I found Natalie talking to some producers instead of Danyal. "Radha. Glad you're here" she said and called me inside. "Where's...." I began. "Danyal? Oh he waited for you for about an hour and then left" she explained, "He completed it and couldn't stop praising how much you had helped him". Of course. "Here's a copy of the CD. This is how it's going to look" she handed me a CD, with a black and white Polaroid as the cover. He was on a high chair, playing his guitar, the usual sombre expression on his face. It was one of the pictures I took on his camera. The second day of working with him, he had given me a old Polaroid camera to take pictures as and when I felt. "Pictures help the creative process" he had said. Throughout the week, we had bonded a lot. We'd never leave the studio, talking incessantly about all things music, even in the breaks. The day I took this picture of him, he was playing me his composition. "I've never played this for anyone, I don't even know why I'm playing it now but I know that I have to. This is very close to my heart," he said. The song was about a young boy realising his dream for the very first time. "I was probably 18 or 19 when I wrote it. This is the first song I ever wrote". I imagined him being a boy. Messy hair, peach fuzz and a boyish grin on his face. It would appear some times, when we'd share laugh. "This has a very different vibe from the other songs in your album. You should really put this one in too," I suggested. "It has a very Pink Floyd vibe to it," I continued. "I've grown up listening to them". I had urged him to include this one in the album too, a choice he needed a lot of courage to make. That week was the most enjoyable one ever. After the tension would wear off by the time it was afternoon, we'd slip into this effortless ease of talking. Many people had even seen us like that, cheerful and just simply talking, Kate told me today. I was so at ease talking to him about anything and everything, I didn't even need any courage to show him my poetry for the first time. "You've had quite an eventful life" he had said, noticing the general theme of excruciating heart break in them. "All this was just circumstantial" I explained. "The circumstances just brought out what was already inside you" he replied. "Well, I've let people make a fool out of me. This is just the result". "They were fools to let you go," he smiled. The electric force would try to creep back into my head when he said things like these, but I'd simply try to snap out of it. His mere presence had done wonders to my writing. Sometimes I'd get overwhelmed with the creative energy in the room- "Can I write for sometime?" I asked him once. "Only if you'll read it to me after,". Coexisting with him was very easy till it was time to say go. We'd find silly reasons, anything that was enough to let us stay in the studio a little longer. Even after working for hours longer than we were supposed to, our goodbyes would linger. He would come up with excuses to call me earlier than my usual time "You know, early mornings are said to be the best time to dive into the work you've done the day before" he said once, which made me laugh at how silly this was "I'll be here at 6" I had said and reached by 5:30, only to find him already there too. "Woke up early today" he tried to explain, knowing too well it was a cover up. "Me too" I smiled. My alarm clock just happened to wake me up half an hour early. We would stay later than every one else and reach with the janitors. The album was completed just because we kept making silly reasons to stay there longer.  
"Radha!" Natalie snapped "Pay attention". I shook my thoughts away. She handed me a short but think white envelope. "Danyal asked me to give you this. You are supposed to select pictures from here for posters, album art, billboards and the CD". But why wasn't he telling me all this? "You have to go to production by the end of the day with the pictures and the credits" she said, pointing to a small pile of papers on the counter. "I'll get it done" I assured her. She smiled and started talking to the producer again. "Natalie, I have a question". She turned her attention back to me. "Is Danyal not coming back?" Maybe I was overstepping, but I didn't care. "Oh, his PR team asked him to lay low till the launch event next week". What? "Okay" I thanked her and left to go to my old office. My heart sank. I probably wasn't going to see him like before again. Oh to imagine him waiting for me to arrive. It killed me. I wonder what he'd say to me about last night. Maybe he'd even say goodbye, now that our work was done. I would probably see him at the event. But he was the star, and I was just an intern. It would never be this way again. I banged my head on my desk in despair. And sulked. "Sad to see your boyfriend go?" It was Kate's voice. She was standing at the door in her usual style. "What the hell, Kate?" I sighed. "Oh c'mon, like I'm blind" she sat on a chair in front of me. "I've seen you two talk. How'd you manage to make him walk right into your trap" she said. "Kate, please, for your sake, stop. I'm really not in the mood to fight with you" I pretended to read the credits. "Fine. I won't say anything" she got up, "but let me tell you, I don't think it's just you that's bothered". "What in the world does that mean?" I rolled my eyes. "I saw you Danyal walk out of the studio this morning, when he didn't see you" she explained, "He was definitely riled up". Thanks, Kate. "You're making things up" I said. "Fine, don't believe me. I saw what I saw, whether you believe me or not" she said, leaving. Did it really bother him too? Why? Maybe he was upset about last night. I thought it best to leave this thing alone and work instead. I took out the bunch of photos from the envelope. The first picture was mine. I had an acoustic guitar in my hands. It was a very well taken photograph. I didn't even know when he took it. I played that memory in my head. "Play this tune for me on the acoustic, will you?" he played a part from one of his songs. He ended up taking in the acoustic part on listening to me play it. I turned the picture around to see something he'd written there. "My sweet rigmarole, xx" it said. Asshole, I muttered. He'd written my favourite lyric from the Arctic Monkeys. He had signed it and left a ten-digit number on it. 

Well, fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can tell that I love Alex Turner, right?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogues without quotes are inner thoughts

The following week passed by without any word with Danyal. He had left me his number, which meant that the ball was now in my court. He probably expected me to text or call him but I didn't, because I knew this wouldn't lead me anywhere and would most definitely bring me into the spotlight which I didn't want. This internship had been a part of my year long break that was intended to do some soul searching before I went back to medical school. No body knew this about me, not Natalie, not Kate. The year was about to come to an end which meant that I would head back home, to India in two months. No matter how good things went, it was going to be over even before it could start properly. The time spent with him was probably meant to be just this, nothing more. So I left it alone and tried to enjoy whatever days I had left here in the company. I wasn't much worried about the party either, as there was no way we could get a chance to talk to each other. Besides, I had people to hang out with which meant that at no point through the party, would I be left alone with my thoughts forcing me to act on them. 

I chose to wore a black dress with a halter neck. Kate suggested that I take off my glasses but I didn't. I expected the launch party to be something grand, with a lot of media and press present there. And I got exactly what I had expected. My dress seemed like the right choice, looking at the other people who walked on the carpet. From the corner of my eye, I saw a limousine enter the area which kick started the flashing of cameras. Thinking that it was his limousine, I stepped away from the paparazzi. Shouts and flashes filled up the air, signalling his arrival. "Radha!" I heard a shout from behind. All the noise immediately stopped, causing me to turn around. When I turned, the flashes started again, now pointed at me. From the corner of my eyes, I saw him- looking dapper as usual, in an all black tux. I was taken aback with shock. Couldn't move an inch, until Danyal kept his hand on my bare back. All the attention made me hot but his touch sent a chill up my spine. My back reflexively twitched, adjusting according to the contour of his hand. I instantly turned my face to his in disbelief but he was extremely calm and happy, posing for the cameras. When he became aware of my discomfort, he moved close to my ear and said "You're one sweet fireball", continuing the lyric from the song. Jesus Christ on a freaking boat. How did this guy know all the right things to say. I felt the heat rise up to my cheeks. How dare he make me blush in front of all these people. "C'mon" he led the way back to red carpet now, taking my hand. I tried to cover my eyes from the flashes all the way to the entrance. Why did he have to do that. What did it even mean? The door was opened for us and he signalled me to go ahead. I thought he'd finally leave me alone so that I could go in a corner and stay there for the entire duration of my stay there. Instead, he put his hand back where it was and my skin reacted in the same way it had before- chills. I shut my eyes tightly, maybe to take all of that feeling in or maybe because I couldn't take it. A little bit of both. I was afraid to look at him again. I knew he'd have one of those smirks on his face that made stomach twist inside. Just before we reached the hall, he whispered again in my ear "See you around, fireball". I clenched my teeth in rage. Danyal Zafar is fucking infuriating. 

I scanned the room for any sign of Kate. I found her exactly where I thought she would- at the bar. "Well well well, if it isn't the girlfriend" she laughed loudly. "Kate! Someone might hear you!" I snapped. As Kate continued her trash talk, I asked the bartender for a glass of champagne. "Oh honey, no body needs to hear anything. They already saw you make a grand entrance with him" she smiled devilishly. "I cannot listen to you sober" I took a sip of my drink. It was sparkly and crip, and burned down my throat. Across the hall, I saw Danyal standing with a huge group of people, a couple of producers and Natalie with him. He raised his glass to me, I gulped down the remaining drink. And Kate asked for another glass for the both of us. "Where's Jack?" I asked her. Jack was a much better, saner company. Kate pointed with her glass to him already giggling senselessly. She had plans to get drunk. I didn't. "I'm gonna go talk to Jack. Don't get drunk" I warned her and left.   
"Hey Jack!"  
"Hi! What are you doing here?" He looked puzzled. "What do you mean?". "Shouldn't you be over there?" His eyes darted to Danyal. "Oh my god, you too?"  
"What?" He said, "You came with him, everybody saw that".   
"It doesn't mean anything" I explained. "Well, it meant something to him". I raised my eyebrows. "This is his launch party. He came with you. It obviously means something" he said. Did it, really?   
"Besides, you're obsessed with him" he chuckled. "I am NOT obsessed with Danyal Zafar" I said hotly, a bit distracted. My heart was thumping anyway, hearing myself hear his name. Half of my mind was already racing on, wondering what he was getting at. "Why does everyone think that?". Okay, fine. Maybe I was a little obsessed. But nobody knew that, at least I thought no body did. Maybe the hiding my feelings thing hadn't worked as well as I thought. It made me angry.   
"Look, I don't know what the deal betweenyou two is. You just be a little careful of him. You never know what's going on in their minds- guys like these."   
I turned back to Jack. "What do you mean, guys like these? He's actually very nice. Maybe if you'd just talk to him once" I was surprised to why I was so offended. He definitely was a cheeky bastard. But I didn't like him say that. "See, you say all these thing and then get defensive about him," he smiled again. I did not like that smile. Maybe there was no sane person in this party. Or maybe I had become a little insane after he had fueled my fire. 

I remained in close proximity to Kate. I was worried about her, she was about to get drunk and I didn't want her to make a fool of herself. I spent the entire evening away from the area where all the important people hung out. "Ladies and Gentlemen, can I have your attention please?" Natalie was on the dias now. "I present to you, the star of the evening, Danyal Zafar". Everyone applauded and he walked on the stage. "Thank you, everyone. Completing this album is the first significant milestone in my life. It has been a very wonderful journey, which required a lot of soul-searching and opening up to new possibilities. I've been very fortunate to find people who have continuously supported me and seen me through difficult times". It was so good to see him go up there and talk about the album. I had seen how passionate he was for this project and how much he had put in. He was smiling and looking through the room. "The people I've met due to this album are those who I'll remember throughout my life and I wish that some of them stay with me for the long run" he suddenly turned his eyes to me and smiled. "Actually, there's only one person because of who this album reached this height". Fuck. He was talking about me. "I got something from her, that I didn't even know existed, that has helped me tremendously, and changed me as a person". Abort. Abort. Abort. Maybe people won't know what he's talking about. Why did he have to spring it on me like this. Jesus Christ. Please don't say my name, please don't say my name. I felt my heart beat faster than it ever had. I felt my limbs go numb, the pit in my stomach deepened. I kept the glass in my hand on a table and held on tightly to the purse in my hand. I couldn't take it anymore. "The person without who this wouldn't be where it is today". My heart skipped a beat. "Thank you, Radha. For being who you are" He grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't go looking for previous mentions about the whole med school thing, it just sort of happened. This has been written purely for my pleasure.


	5. Chapter 5

THE Danyal Zafar had thanked me for being who I was. This was most definitely a dream. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. I could hear just one thing- people clapping. I could see just one thing, people's eyes on me. I wasn't someone who could handle such situations well. My mind had stopped working because I had to think of how to react. No reaction came to me. I just stood there, mouth gaping. Only a few seconds had passed when someone shouted "Yeah baby!" It was Kate. "That's my best friend!". Kate always had impeccable timing. She was totally hammered and almost about to fall to the ground when I caught her mid way. "Radha oh my god look....." she hugged me. "...I told you he loves you" she yelled further. Somebody stop her. "For god's sake Kate, shut up" I said and pushed her away to my side. She reeked of alcohol. "Let's take you somewhere else" I said and dragged her away, people still looking at us. "No, stop. He's gonna confess his love for you" she wasn't stopping. A couple of steps away from the door, Jack arrived from the other side and held Kate. "Jack! This way" I announced, asking him to walk towards the washroom on the left. Jack helped me carry her till we reached the door of the women's washroom and then I carried her in. "Kate, can you sit on this platform?" I patted her cheek repeatedly. "Of course darling, anything for you". Apparently, Kate was a happy drunk, a little too happy for my liking. I wet a paper napkin to dab on her face but was stopped by a loud thud of the door of a booth. The next thing I saw was Kate fallen on her knees, her face bent over the toilet, throwing up. I had seen enough patients throw up to not be bothered by it, but had seen enough patients to be tired of it. I threw the wet napkin and handed her some dry ones instead, when she was done. "You're a good friend, Radha" she said during one of the breaks between throwing up. Yeah, a little too good. I sighed. As soon as Kate had cleaned herself up, I carried her out and rested her on a sofa kept outside. Maybe this was the reason they kept sofas at random places, I thought. "I've called a cab for her" Jack said. "Thank you, Jack". I was 500% done with this evening. My life had a tendency to be monotonous and plain for weeks, followed by one or two days of extreme drama. I was quite used to it by now, but this was too much drama. I hadn't even had any time to process all that I had witnessed. The stunt Danyal had pulled at the entrance was neutralised by the sheer amount of champagne I had consumed. The confession in front of all these people was, however something even the alcohol couldn't help. I was a little light headed that made every feeling heightened but unlike Kate, I could handle my alcohol. While I waited with Kate, Jack stood outside till the cab arrived. "Radha" Danyal said, standing behind me, "You dropped your purse there..." I turned around to reveal Kate sitting on the sofa infront of me. "Is she okay?" He sounded concerned. Fake concerned. "She'll be fine," I replied, taking back my ourse from his hands. Just then, Jack appeared "The cab is here,". "Okay" I asked Kate to get up and started to leave. "I was hoping we could talk a little" Danyal interjected. I gave him a look. He stayed mum. "I'll make sure she gets home safe" Jack interrupted our visual conversation. Jack took Kate from my hands and gave me an awkward smile. "Thank you Jack" I smiled. Danyal kept looking at me, and I- at Jack and Kate, till they had completely left the scene. We stared at each other for several minutes. "Aren't you gonna say anything?" He said, expression still the same as before. "What can I say?" I shrugged. "I said all those things in there and you have got nothing to say" he seemed shocked. I stayed mum. I just needed a little time to process all of it. He was obviously pissed. He ran his hands through his hair in exasperation and bit his lip. All those shitty movies were right. He looked hot as hell when mad. "I can't do this here" he shook his head, "Come with me". "Don't be silly, you have a party to attend" I said. "Shut up" he snapped. Before I could react, I was being taken across the hotel, through the entire hall- where the party was. It must've been quite a sight for everyone, especially Natalie- who gave me a disappointed look. There was no sign of ease in his walk- it was fast, careless and desperate. I was too focused on how hot he looked to be mad at what he was pulling off. As we waited for the elevator to open, he did not let go of my hand. Thankfully, there were other people going up. What would have ensued in their absence would've been an absolute treat for the surveillance guys, I thought- looking at the CCTV camera on the corner of the elevator. He had no plan to let go of my hand, or my heart, inner me said, causing me to roll my eyes. Elevators are surely slow or fast- according to the situation you're in. Twenty four floors took seconds. As we walked down the empty corridor to what seemed like his room, I realised that I was quite enjoying this instead of being mad. And when he fidgeted with the keys with one of his hands, I felt a smile digging in my cheeks. He swung the door open and pulled me inside. And finally left my hand. I went back to the door to close it and walked back to the huge room. It was the penthouse. There were two sets of sofas in the room, facing a huge fireplace. Two doors opened behind the sofas, which probably led to the rooms. On one side of the sofa, there was a huge bar, on the other- a glass wall with a door, out of which I could see a small pool, facing the gorgeous London Skyline. "Hey! You can see the London Eye from here!" My smile grew wider because of the scene. I looked at Danyal for a reaction. He glared at me while he removed his black tux. Then proceeded to throw it forcefully on one of the sofas. Probably not the best reaction. I pressed my lips together and tasted the cherry of the merlot colored lipstick, looking at the sight now in front of me. I put down my purse on the centre table as he unbuttoned his sleeve to roll it up. Hands are distracting. Very distracting. I blinked rapidly and tried to look anywhere other than there. After a minute of avoiding, I gave in and looked at him again. His hair were messy, now he had run his hands through them. Brows- furrowed, lips pouting slightly, his hands were in his pockets, sleeves rolled up till the elbows. I knew that he had opened two buttons of his shirt but I was trying not to look directly at them. Damn. Inner me was really battling my conscience at this point. Look at that boy. Forget everything and kiss him right now- inner me stated. Yeah, you'd really like that, wouldn't you? We DO NOT make out with boys we barely know- my conscience was also furious. We know him very well. Were you asleep through that entire week?

"You're really not going to say a word?" He said, voice maddeningly soft. We don't want to speak. We want to kiss. We want to fight for how you treated us a minute ago. How could I possibly say a word? "Do you feel nothing? In that studio, in that elevator, did you really feel nothing all this time?" he sighed. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.

"Feel nothing?" I laughed. "You make me feel, baby".  
"You make me feel." I said quietly, fiercely-  
"...and I don't like it. And I want it to stop, NOW."

I felt the force rise again, stronger than ever. And it increased exponentially- as he ran a hand through his hair again, as he took every step towards me.   
His hands were next to my cheeks, millimetres away, almost touching, but not quite. I lowered my gaze to his lips which were so close to mine, I feared that they'd meet with my next breath.

"Tell me not to kiss you" he whispered.  
"Don't kiss me" I replied.  
"Mean it" he took my face in his hands.  
"I can't".

We kissed.


End file.
